


For Your Information

by asuralucier



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Everyone lives but is medicated, Gen, Hurt!Levi, M/M, Some Humor Some Angst, canon AU, preslash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-30
Updated: 2018-09-30
Packaged: 2019-07-20 16:35:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16141199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asuralucier/pseuds/asuralucier
Summary: Upon joining the Survey Corps, Levi needs a last name. He chooses Smith.(Repost of an old 2013 fic previously titled "Marks." Written near the end of the first season of the anime, so basically everything is jossed but I still really like it so I thought I'd put it back up.)





	For Your Information

 “...Once you clear your examination, I'll send someone to fetch you again. It shouldn't be long, two hours at the most.” Erwin stopped in front of a building and gestured, “It's through there. They're expecting you.”

Levi sighed and rubbed his wrists. While it felt a lot like he'd traded in one pair of shackles for another, it was difficult not to appreciate that he wouldn't be executed in a week's time. “...What the hell kind of examination takes two hours?” Then again, for the twenty-some odd years he'd been alive, Levi never once seen any sort of doctor or a medic. Except once when he'd seen a woman give birth, and for obvious reasons, his attention hadn't been too focused on the doctor who'd been present. Or was it a midwife? It was all a bit of a blur. What he’d remembered even now, was the blood.

“You'll have to be documented, stripped, cleaned. It's procedure. These things take time.”

Not that being documented or 'cleaned' in any way sounded good to Levi, but he found that he was much more worried about the little process that Erwin had buried in the middle. He was going to be _stripped_. “The military's fucked up. 'M not stripping.”

“It's not for the reasons you think. They need to make note of any identifying marks that you have. Makes you easier to identify when we find your body. Especially if you're found with your head missing.” Erwin didn't even flinch. He might have only been a captain, but it was clear he'd already been around too long and had probably given this speech hundreds of times.

“So you save me from having my head chopped off, and now you're telling me I'm going to fucking die anyway.”

“More or less.” Erwin didn’t exactly sound sorry about it.

It occurred to Levi that he probably should have been paying more attention when Erwin Smith, who'd identified himself as a captain with the Survey Corps during his trial had made his case to stay Levi's sentence. But then again, he'd been more concentrated on hoping that he wouldn't die as a spectacle for the rich bastards in Sina.

“At least you're honest, now.” Levi's mouth twitched up on one side, “...But identification's useless to nobody if you don't have anyone to notify, which you know I don't. This whole city's probably outraged that I'm not dead.” He didn't know why he was thinking that now. Levi always knew he'd leave the world without anyone to miss him, and that was fine. That was how the world was, sometimes. Levi had learned never to grudge the world its cruelty. 

“I've instructed them to notify me if you're ever found dead, as your direct superior,” Erwin said. “Now go on Levi, you talk too much.”

 

 

Levi was a man of the world. His old world had alleys, cruel men, knives, stale mead. Women too, but Levi never remembered them much, because they were usually kinder. Point was, his world required him to just _know_ things on instinct. And now that he was in this room being measured and catalogued like some _cow_ about to be slaughtered, he realized how little he really knew. The man who waved him in treated him like anyone else. Like it didn’t matter who he was. Like what really mattered to him about Levi was that he appear as information on parchment.

_Scar, below left ankle, approx. 7 cm._

_Burn mark, right elbow, round_

_Mole, near clavicle, on the right_

And other things too. The medic didn't have very nice handwriting, and Levi wasn't exactly trained or anything in reading upside-down. But at last, the man said he was done, and Levi was allowed to put his clothes back on. He did so in a hurry.

“I'm going now.”

“Not yet, you're not.” The medic sounded bored, “Sit. We've got to go through personal details and then we'll be finished. Sit in the chair, there.”

Levi hissed a displeased sort of sigh, but he sat. _Not too long,_ Erwin had said, _maybe two hours_. The man was a fucking liar. But then, Levi wasn’t any good at telling time.

“I'll need a name.”

“I'm surprised if there's still a man in Sina that doesn't know my name.”

The medic gave him a look, “Your family name. And your birthplace.” Clearly, he was a man of saintly patience. Or maybe he was just dedicated to his job.

“I don't --” because he really didn't know. Or rather, he didn't remember. Levi bit his tongue, and he wished that the medic would stop staring.

“My family name is Smith. But I don't have family. I was probably born in Trost but don’t hold it to me, if you know what I mean?”

If that information surprised the medic, the man didn't show it. He jotted something down and moved on.

“Birthday?”

“Late in the year. I don't remember.”

“Age?”

 “Not fifteen,” Levi shrugged one shoulder. “I don't know that either. I'm at least twenty. Something. When you've been where I've been...you count days, you don't count years.”

He missed the medic looking almost sympathetic, which was just as well, because Levi might have socked him. 

“All right. Now we’re done. The captain might be right, you're perfect for the Survey Corps,” the medic closed his records with a decisive clap. “Try not to die, Levi Smith.”

  
  


Everyone learned things about Marco Bott when he'd died. They learned that he'd grown up on a failing pig farm, that he'd been the oldest of three children with two sisters and an elderly grandmother who no one wanted to admit was probably dead. They learned that he'd broken his right leg once, because he'd lost a race with a particularly vicious sow. In retrospect, that sow had provided Marco's last memory of good meat. 

It was funny, that you only knew so much about a man when he was gone.  
  


 

 

Someone was fucking _screaming_. Levi. Levi. Corporal Levi. His name. So fucking annoying. As if screaming would make him any less dead. 

Levi opened his mouth, but it hurt, and blood was bubbling out in the place of words. _Fuck_. They were also moving very fast. Fuck once seemed so easy to say and he couldn’t even manage a single fucking syllable. Fuck fuck fuck.

Then they came to a stop. but the voice near Levi’s ear wouldn't stop screaming; probably because she knew it annoyed him and kept him awake, “It was all my. All my fault. If I hadn't went -- he pulled me out of her mouth and then she -- the titan, the female titan she -- got away. She had Eren, and I had to, she has –”

Someone was lifting him off something. A horse maybe. Another voice said, “Open your eyes, we need to make sure you're not concussed. You've lost a lot of blood. But nothing’s broken, you’ll be all right.”

No shit.

Levi tried to speak again. His tongue felt wooden in his mouth, “...Didn't hit my head. Can't be. I can't be concussed, are you stupid?”

“Don't talk. You'll lose more blood if you exert yourself.” The voice, or was it yet another voice? Whoever they were they sounded further and further away. “Tell us your name.”

“....Levi Smith.”

Then he didn't feel anything else at all.

  
  


There was light, but Levi squeezed his eyes shut. He was determined to not open his eyes if it meant he was dead.

“Wake up, I know you're conscious.”

He couldn't be dead, then. Not unless Erwin was dead too, because that sounded a lot like him just now. Levi waited a few more seconds, then he opened his eyes. Maybe it was the light, maybe it was something else, but it seemed the pain just hit him all at once. Levi winced, then he set his teeth. That did not make the pain better.

“Why are you here?”

Without his asking, Erwin went to adjust the curtains on the window to let in less light. It was a thoughtful gesture, and Levi wasn't going to grumble, “...Because I'm also the person they notify when you turn up almost dead, too. Doesn't hurt that you'd apparently identified yourself as Levi Smith before you passed out.”

He'd identified himself as _Levi Smith_. Levi winced, “I don't – I don't remember doing that.”

“Of course you don't, you must have been halfway out of your mind.” Erwin looked him over up and down, in a way that really should be embarrassing, but Levi was just in so much pain, he was going to pretend not to notice. “Is the pain bad? I could get you something.”

“You're not a medic.” Not that he thought Erwin would intentionally feed him poison or anything, but Levi's internalized paranoia reared still its ugly head, once in a while.

“I studied to be one, briefly. I remember enough. Besides, you're under my command, so whatever I say goes. Do you want something or not?”

“Showoff,” though Levi was in pain, so he amended himself after a beat, “Yes.” And then because it couldn’t hurt, “Please.”

“Will see what I still remember.”

Levi turned his head the best he could to watch Erwin rummage through the cabinets where apparently a whole shitload of herbs and roots were kept.  Studied to be a medic, how unlike him. “What are you giving me?”

“Yarrow, some chamomile. You can swallow the powder with some water in a minute.”

 Levi hadn't the faintest idea what yarrow was, but he'd heard of chamomile. But he didn't quite remember where from. Then he did, and wished he hadn't. “Isn't chamomile what they give women when they're about to give birth?”

“...It's supposed to ease the pains of going through labor, yes.” Fuck Erwin for trying not to sound amused. “But it's also effective in treating other types of pain. Which makes sense. Here,” he had a cup with him, and a thin sheet of paper with the crushed powder on it. “Just swallow. It won't make you pregnant.”

Levi said, “Your sense of humor is so not working for me today.” But the powder was probably a different story, so he swallowed that without much complaint. It was bitter, like ale that'd fermented too long and rotted, but it was also a bit sweet at the edges. He gulped down all of the water.

“Wasn’t aware I had one.”

Erwin took the now-empty cup from him after that and got him some more water. Levi swallowed all that too.

“Tastes like shit.”

“That's how you know it's not poison,” and Levi didn't think that was supposed to be a joke given the exchange they’d just had about Erwin’s humor, or lack of it. “Why'd you say your name was Smith?”

“I was out of my mind, you said so.” Levi shrugged.

“I meant, before. You couldn't remember your birthday, your birthplace, or how old you were. But you gave them Smith as a name.”

“The medic pressed me for one, and I couldn't think of anything. I don't know. It's a name.” Truth be told, the fact that he'd given the medic a fake family name to get him to shut up amounted to very little. Everyone called him Levi anyway. And it was years ago. He'd been having a sordid horrible day. Smith was short and easy to remember, easy to say. Easy to spot too, given the only man who Levi knew called Smith stood head and shoulders above everyone else.   

“...Why do you sound like you looked me up? Are you even allowed?” 

“If you don’t remember, I got a promotion. I have access to everyone's records now -- even if I did have yours before.” The other man shrugged, “I might have been curious.” Erwin went back to the cabinets to close them. “...I have meetings now, I'll be back to check on you later.”

“Can you not say that like I'm an invalid?”

“You're going to be for the next two weeks. At least.” Now Erwin was at the door, so daring Levi with his mobility. His hand poised on the knob. “Try to rest.” 

“I'm -- sorry about the female titan.” Or he really shouldn't be sorry, because no one really knew how these things turned out. All you could really do was hope and trust, and this time Erwin had trusted Levi, and they'd come back empty-handed. So maybe he should be sorry. But between the female titan, Eren, and Mikasa...Levi had made the choice he thought best. And he'd live with it.

“Just rest, consider that an order. We can talk about it later.” The door closed behind Erwin, and Levi was alone again.

  
  


Hanji dropped by not long after Erwin left. Levi was immediately on guard, because she had that look in her eye. That crazy look, like he was a titan all strung up and ready for her to poke around with a stick however she liked. Levi had met her not long after he'd met Erwin and it hadn't taken long for him to decide that he didn't like that look.

“If you attempt to poison me, I'd choke you,” he meant it too. “I've got one good arm left.”

“I come in peace; I don’t think I need to tell you how messy it is to choke someone to their death, either.” she said, both hands in the air in a typical gesture of surrender. “If you'd like, I'll even sit here by the door. Ten feet away from you. Erwin said you might be bored. And I could stand to kill a few minutes.”

“The fact that you'd even _consider_ –” Levi was going to give up for now, he didn't exactly know if his wounds were going to open up again if he got too worked up, but it seemed like a thing. “How's my squad?”

“They're going to make it; they're tough, Levi. Some of them are probably never going to be able to fight effectively again, but I got them out.”

It looked like she'd finished off that sentence, but it also looked like Hanji wanted to add something else. Levi steels himself, “...And?”

“And. Normal people would thank me.”

“You’re abnormal,” but of course that came out more almost _fond_ than anything, and Levi briefly shit himself. “And?”

“What do you mean, and?” She blinked.

“I mean, _and_. Hanji, you don’t look like you’re on the verge of bouncing off a wall just because you want a thank you from me.”  

Hanji surveyed him for a long moment, “...But you never give out thank yous.”

 Levi sighed, “Thank you.” And as he’d suspected, that look in her eyes didn’t go away. Why’d he even bother? “...And?” 

“And...I don’t know, there’s this little rumor going around. That you and Erwin might have, ah.” Hanji paused, as if she was genuinely trying to find a way to say this delicately, “...gotten secretly married.”

“ -- We _what_ , now? Did you sniff something before you came to talk to me?” It sounded an awful lot like Hanji had just accused him and Erwin of being married. _Married_. Now that, that was talking crazy.

 “Oh, I know you’re not. But you blurted out your name in front of our recruits, and I swear this thing has pretty much taken a life of its own. It’s all anyone could talk about for _days_. Erwin even went for the records, to check.” Hanji watched him intently.

Yes, and the fire probably burned with Hanji’s ample help. But Levi was suddenly too tired to think about that now,“...How long was I out?” Days, apparently.

“Three days. We all thought you were going to die. You’d lost a lot of blood, no broken bones aside.”

And there was something in the way that she’d said it, that Levi believed her. He vaguely wondered why Erwin didn’t tell him he’d been out for three days.

“Hanji.”

“Yeah?”

“Who gets notified when you finally get your head chewed off?”

The question caught her off guard, but her eyes were frank and honest when they turned to him again, “No one. I have parents, you know that, but I’d rather they didn’t know. They hate the idea of the Survey Corps anyway, so it’s not like.” Hanji shrugs hard enough to bring the thought to a full stop, “...I have my squad. I have you to bother and Erwin to yank my leash. I’ll do okay.”

“I don’t even remember how old I _fucking_ am.” Levi brushed a hand over his eyes, “Shit.”

And because he was paranoid, Levi kept waiting for Hanji to ask if someone had given him ground-up chamomile. But she never did.

  


 

Erwin came to visit him the next day, near dinnertime. 

“Does everyone seriously think we’re married?”

Erwin glanced at him, “Everyone who is severely medicated probably thinks we are; granted, that’s mostly everyone. It’ll wear off.” It was a small reprieve, but not much.

“You’re a blue-blood,” Erwin didn’t talk about that part about himself, just like Levi didn’t talk about his life before the Survey Corps. But it was something they both knew. “It’ll look bad. Couldn’t you, fuck, I don’t know, tell everyone not to talk about it?”

“Look at you, worrying about how it looks,” Erwin spared him a look. There was nothing in it that Levi could have used to wonder if the look meant something else. “I said it will wear off. And the fact that I command the Survey Corps already makes me a blue-blooded pariah. The chamomile’s gone to your head.”

“You’re the one that gave it to me.” Levi rolled his eyes at him, “You also didn’t told me I was out for three days.”

Either Erwin almost flinched, or it was Levi’s imagination, “I didn’t want to worry you, or have you blame yourself. It’s not conducive for a squad leader to have that kind of doubt.”

 That sounded a lot like a lecture and something else all rolled into one, but perhaps the chamomile had gone to his head. Levi was okay with that, maybe. “I’m not…”

 Because he _wasn’t_.

 “Levi Smith makes me _somebody_ ,” Levi said finally. “And I didn’t want to die. Not without anyone knowing that I wasn’t _fucking_ somebody.”

 And that was him saying too much. Levi was going to shut up, now, squeeze his eyes shut, and hope that the embarrassment welling up in his chest to go away, It didn’t.

 Erwiin took a moment to study him sideways, and Levi didn’t think the other man would understand. Erwin knew who he was, a blue-blood, a blue-blooded pariah, but he didn’t think that made any difference. He was still _someone_.

 “You can stay Levi Smith for as long as you’d like. But I think,” for a moment Erwin didn’t move at all, and Levi gazed at him, wondering if he’d taken up something untouchable.

 But maybe that was the point.

 “I think you could be better. I know you can be.” Erwin finished, and moved from his post beside Levi’s bed towards the door again. “...I’ll see you in the morning.”  

**Author's Note:**

> Chamomile was an herb that is given to women to ease labor during the medieval period, but idk if it could have been effective on battle wounds, it was a fun thing to add, though. Thanks for reading (again)!


End file.
